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Contact print and film negatives of Toby Weight

Object information

Physical description

A contact print stapled to a plastic sheet containing film negatives. The black and white photographic contact print on paper has 10 images in three vertical rows showing the face of a man with short medium toned hair with tendrils at his left temple, wearing a patterned shirt. The sheet with film negatives has 10 images in four vertical rows of the same person as the contact print.

Statement of significance

The exhibition 'Face to Face - 200 Portraits 1986 - 1988' created by Jon Lewis is a map of the face of Australia during the Bicentennial year, 1988. The striking images have become a signature piece of the National Museum of Australia's permanent Eternity gallery, having been purchased by the Museum in 2001.

Jon Lewis is an internationally recognised photographer who is renowned for depicting snapshots of everyday life with warmth and humanity. The photographs were all taken in Lewis' Sydney studio. The portraits are in black and white and are a mixture of notable Australians and unknown members of the general public, of varying ages and backgrounds.